Recall the U.S. Ambassador to Syria Now! Shame on Obama and Hillary!

Yesterday, at least 88 more protesters were murdered in Damascus, Latakia, Homs, Hama and Izra'a by Syrian security forces at the behest of President Bashar al-Assad. In response, President Obama issued a written statement (see: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2011/04/obama-condemns-violence-in-syria/1):

"The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms the use of force by the Syrian government against demonstrators. This outrageous use of violence to quell protests must come to an end now.

. . . .

Instead of listening to their own people, President Assad is blaming outsiders while seeking Iranian assistance in repressing Syria's citizens through the same brutal tactics that have been used by his Iranian allies. We call on President Assad to change course now, and heed the calls of his own people."

A well-drafted declaration by Obama, but the American president is not:

1. recalling the U.S. ambassador to Syria;

2. seeking economic sanctions against the Assad regime;

3. condemning Assad at the United Nations.

All of the above measures are being demanded by former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty (see: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110422/ap_on_el_ge/us_syria_pawlenty_1), but the Obama administration is ignoring these requests.

Why doesn't Obama bring the U.S. ambassador to Damascus home? Answer: The recall of the U.S. ambassador would amount to tacit acknowledgment of the failure of Obama's foreign policy.

In 2005, Assad explicitly approved the murder by Hezbollah of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a friend of the West, and the U.S. ambassador to Syria was recalled by President Bush. Obama, however, made it the cornerstone of his foreign policy (the "Obama Doctrine") to reach out in friendship to heretofore "misunderstood" tyrannies, e.g., Iran and Syria. In furtherance of this revolutionary foreign policy, Obama repeatedly sent Senator John Kerry, who aspires to be the next U.S. secretary of state, to court Assad in Damascus.

Bypassing Senate confirmation and seeking to avoid public scrutiny by acting while many were on holiday, Obama appointed Robert Ford as ambassador to Syria at the end of December 2010 (see: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/29/AR2010122904168.html). Three months later, this move had backfired on Obama, leaving him in a quandary how to clean up the mess.

By way of explanation for Obama's inaction in the face of Assad's coldblooded murder of civilians, Hillary Clinton sought to shift the blame for the gaff by declaring in late March (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/27/ftn/main20047627.shtml):

"There is a different leader in Syria now, many of the members of Congress of both parties who have gone to Syria in recent months have said they believe he's a reformer."

A "reformer"? How about a butcher? Meanwhile, Obama hopes that his display of naiveté and duplicity will have been forgotten by November 2012.

Homework: Go the website of the U.S. embassy in Damascus (http://damascus.usembassy.gov/). See if you can find a single mention of the current unrest in Syria. Next, go to the "interesting articles" listed by by embassy (http://damascus.usembassy.gov/media/pdf/press-releases-pdf/intersting-articles.pdf): At the top of the list is the inane New York Times op-ed, "Hoping for Arab Mandelas", written by -- you guessed it -- Thomas Friedman.

Does the U.S. embassy in Damascus still harbor any illusion that Assad is a "reformer" or could become an "Arab Mandela"? Sickening.